IN ADAM’S NATURE OR THE DIVINE NATURE
25/11/24 14:29
Theosis may be a new word to some but it is not a new concept. It has to do with spiritual transformation and is commonly known as ‘Godliness’. This is a Godliness that has an ontological connotation rather than a legalistic one. *
TRUE CHRIST
To see Jesus is to see God. This is why we must be His disciples rather than the disciples of sects and misguided beliefs. “Mis-perceptions about God may arise from early life experiences, especially interactions with parents and significant others …Whether one comes from a family .. rigid religiosity, or other forms of a parental dysfunction, the effects upon family members are similar. Among the effects of parental dysfunction are twisted and distorted perceptions of God.” (1) A misguided Christian community is likewise dysfunctional to the extent that a mindset so warped may perceive the real Gospel as heresy.
It’s not uncommon to live in a bubble of misguided beliefs. The parable of Trumpism is that people can manufacture their own reality because they find a perverse comfort in it. Lies can be embraced and fought for in politics and in the Church.
If the adventure of adult life for some is undoing the harm to the self experienced in our childhood, the adventure of knowing Christ and His Real Gospel as it is, is similar. Genuine growth in Christ by which we mean advancing from glory to glory from - workers to sons - comes as we leave behind the erroneous ideas in which we were socialised. Godliness is ours by our being joined to God. Not by us but joined by the Christ of God.
THEOSIS
Only God has the condition of deity in and of Himself. No human can ever attain divinity. There is only one God and we are not Him. However, theosis is the state of being ‘God-infused’, both in character and in person. Peter describes Christians as being “partakers of the divine nature” in 2 Peter 1:4 (KJV). The Greek word koinōnos translated “partakers,” means “sharers, associates, or companions.”
In Christ we are enveloped in the spirit of sonship because we are made one with our Father. It is this kind of oneness that heals the fragmented self and empowers us to have real community with others – of the kind not based on formulaic social scientific legalisms but in the nature of trinitarian communion that has embraced us in Jesus. The oneness of the trinity becomes the oneness that is ours because we agree with Christ that He is our life.
PERICHORESIS
“Christians, though .. the privilege of sonship, become participants in the divine nature of God… Theosis is associated with another term, perichoresis, which is a Greek term describing the relationship between each Person of the Trinity where each is part of the other yet distinctly themselves*. Therefore, theosis is related to man’s perichoresis in which God resides within His human creation. As a result of theosis and the indwelling of God, man is made alive, full, and complete.”
CHRIST IN YOU
Human beings take on the qualities of God because God in God’s trinitarian fullness lives in us to impart Himself to us. We are not of course ‘God’s - but we are ‘sons’.
It is our oneness with God in this perichoretic sense that imparts God’s life and character to our person. God’s holiness is not something separate from God.* It is God. As a result it is God in us who makes us holy as God is holy. Thus, Christ is our life and our righteousness not only as Grace but as His being transfusing us.
SONS IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH
Myk Habets reflecting on Torrance’s thought, observes that, “It is only because God created man with the ability to experience theosis, i.e., God literally dwelling within us, that we become a reflection of Him. Another way to look at the idea of theosis is what Paul tells us in Romans 12:2: “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Theosis, that process of becoming like God, provides Torrance with a way of describing the reality of human participation in God through transformation into the image/likeness of the incarnate Son, Jesus Christ.
BEING HOLY AS GOD IS HOLY
“The more believers conform to this image the more they reflect the Triune relationship of love within their human communities, and the more they show it to cosmic constituencies as well. Believers in Christ are enabled to act as priests of creation, glorifying God through bringing harmony to creation as they mediate God’s presence. As they participate in the incarnate Son by the Spirit they become increasingly personalised and humanised, transformed into the likeness of the Son.” (2)
TRANSFORMATION
What has just been described looks much like sanctification because it is.
But not in a dualistic sense. We take on the divine nature because Grace lives in us and becomes us through the incarnation. This is Paul’s topic in Romans 8. We are forgiven and made righteous in the person of Jesus Christ. This is easier to understand if we see ourselves as engulfed in God and placed in perichoretic oneness with God rather than trying to see ourselves as conforming to a set of dualistic externalities listed in the law. Deviant Christian theologies tend to define holiness/godliness as things you do. But doing starts with Being. Christ’s theology of Himself and you is that you are joined to God in His Person’ and made one with God by which you receive His healing and His nature by the Spirit of Sonship – which is a state of being, not a definition or position. Joined to this Vine we express the fruit of genuine live and life.
ONENESS WITH CHRIST
Thus in this living way of being in Christ we become persona and sons/daughters rather than workers and adherents of morals and religious principles. Incarnated with God we become the expression of God because we are one with God. This is life in the Spirit and theosis.
* This negates the unsustainable god-theology of the law and a christ as chief law-monger.
* God is three. The trinity are real persons who live in oneness with each other, yet are distinctly themselves: Three persons one God according to the Nicaean Creed and the apostles teaching. God is relationship and Adam and Eve were included in this relationship as sons. God as drawn us into Godself in Jesus Christ.
As sons and daughters we inherit a similar facility in our close relationships. We become part of each other. This is why a break-up or a divorce can be so catastrophic..
(1) Martin M Davis. A Window into the Heart of God, Introduction.
(2) Myk Habets, Theosis in the Theology of Thomas Torrance
Theosis may be a new word to some but it is not a new concept. It has to do with spiritual transformation and is commonly known as ‘Godliness’. This is a Godliness that has an ontological connotation rather than a legalistic one. *
TRUE CHRIST
To see Jesus is to see God. This is why we must be His disciples rather than the disciples of sects and misguided beliefs. “Mis-perceptions about God may arise from early life experiences, especially interactions with parents and significant others …Whether one comes from a family .. rigid religiosity, or other forms of a parental dysfunction, the effects upon family members are similar. Among the effects of parental dysfunction are twisted and distorted perceptions of God.” (1) A misguided Christian community is likewise dysfunctional to the extent that a mindset so warped may perceive the real Gospel as heresy.
It’s not uncommon to live in a bubble of misguided beliefs. The parable of Trumpism is that people can manufacture their own reality because they find a perverse comfort in it. Lies can be embraced and fought for in politics and in the Church.
If the adventure of adult life for some is undoing the harm to the self experienced in our childhood, the adventure of knowing Christ and His Real Gospel as it is, is similar. Genuine growth in Christ by which we mean advancing from glory to glory from - workers to sons - comes as we leave behind the erroneous ideas in which we were socialised. Godliness is ours by our being joined to God. Not by us but joined by the Christ of God.
THEOSIS
Only God has the condition of deity in and of Himself. No human can ever attain divinity. There is only one God and we are not Him. However, theosis is the state of being ‘God-infused’, both in character and in person. Peter describes Christians as being “partakers of the divine nature” in 2 Peter 1:4 (KJV). The Greek word koinōnos translated “partakers,” means “sharers, associates, or companions.”
In Christ we are enveloped in the spirit of sonship because we are made one with our Father. It is this kind of oneness that heals the fragmented self and empowers us to have real community with others – of the kind not based on formulaic social scientific legalisms but in the nature of trinitarian communion that has embraced us in Jesus. The oneness of the trinity becomes the oneness that is ours because we agree with Christ that He is our life.
PERICHORESIS
“Christians, though .. the privilege of sonship, become participants in the divine nature of God… Theosis is associated with another term, perichoresis, which is a Greek term describing the relationship between each Person of the Trinity where each is part of the other yet distinctly themselves*. Therefore, theosis is related to man’s perichoresis in which God resides within His human creation. As a result of theosis and the indwelling of God, man is made alive, full, and complete.”
CHRIST IN YOU
Human beings take on the qualities of God because God in God’s trinitarian fullness lives in us to impart Himself to us. We are not of course ‘God’s - but we are ‘sons’.
It is our oneness with God in this perichoretic sense that imparts God’s life and character to our person. God’s holiness is not something separate from God.* It is God. As a result it is God in us who makes us holy as God is holy. Thus, Christ is our life and our righteousness not only as Grace but as His being transfusing us.
SONS IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH
Myk Habets reflecting on Torrance’s thought, observes that, “It is only because God created man with the ability to experience theosis, i.e., God literally dwelling within us, that we become a reflection of Him. Another way to look at the idea of theosis is what Paul tells us in Romans 12:2: “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Theosis, that process of becoming like God, provides Torrance with a way of describing the reality of human participation in God through transformation into the image/likeness of the incarnate Son, Jesus Christ.
BEING HOLY AS GOD IS HOLY
“The more believers conform to this image the more they reflect the Triune relationship of love within their human communities, and the more they show it to cosmic constituencies as well. Believers in Christ are enabled to act as priests of creation, glorifying God through bringing harmony to creation as they mediate God’s presence. As they participate in the incarnate Son by the Spirit they become increasingly personalised and humanised, transformed into the likeness of the Son.” (2)
TRANSFORMATION
What has just been described looks much like sanctification because it is.
But not in a dualistic sense. We take on the divine nature because Grace lives in us and becomes us through the incarnation. This is Paul’s topic in Romans 8. We are forgiven and made righteous in the person of Jesus Christ. This is easier to understand if we see ourselves as engulfed in God and placed in perichoretic oneness with God rather than trying to see ourselves as conforming to a set of dualistic externalities listed in the law. Deviant Christian theologies tend to define holiness/godliness as things you do. But doing starts with Being. Christ’s theology of Himself and you is that you are joined to God in His Person’ and made one with God by which you receive His healing and His nature by the Spirit of Sonship – which is a state of being, not a definition or position. Joined to this Vine we express the fruit of genuine live and life.
ONENESS WITH CHRIST
Thus in this living way of being in Christ we become persona and sons/daughters rather than workers and adherents of morals and religious principles. Incarnated with God we become the expression of God because we are one with God. This is life in the Spirit and theosis.
* This negates the unsustainable god-theology of the law and a christ as chief law-monger.
* God is three. The trinity are real persons who live in oneness with each other, yet are distinctly themselves: Three persons one God according to the Nicaean Creed and the apostles teaching. God is relationship and Adam and Eve were included in this relationship as sons. God as drawn us into Godself in Jesus Christ.
As sons and daughters we inherit a similar facility in our close relationships. We become part of each other. This is why a break-up or a divorce can be so catastrophic..
(1) Martin M Davis. A Window into the Heart of God, Introduction.
(2) Myk Habets, Theosis in the Theology of Thomas Torrance
TRUE CHRIST
To see Jesus is to see God. This is why we must be His disciples rather than the disciples of sects and misguided beliefs. “Mis-perceptions about God may arise from early life experiences, especially interactions with parents and significant others …Whether one comes from a family .. rigid religiosity, or other forms of a parental dysfunction, the effects upon family members are similar. Among the effects of parental dysfunction are twisted and distorted perceptions of God.” (1) A misguided Christian community is likewise dysfunctional to the extent that a mindset so warped may perceive the real Gospel as heresy.
It’s not uncommon to live in a bubble of misguided beliefs. The parable of Trumpism is that people can manufacture their own reality because they find a perverse comfort in it. Lies can be embraced and fought for in politics and in the Church.
If the adventure of adult life for some is undoing the harm to the self experienced in our childhood, the adventure of knowing Christ and His Real Gospel as it is, is similar. Genuine growth in Christ by which we mean advancing from glory to glory from - workers to sons - comes as we leave behind the erroneous ideas in which we were socialised. Godliness is ours by our being joined to God. Not by us but joined by the Christ of God.
THEOSIS
Only God has the condition of deity in and of Himself. No human can ever attain divinity. There is only one God and we are not Him. However, theosis is the state of being ‘God-infused’, both in character and in person. Peter describes Christians as being “partakers of the divine nature” in 2 Peter 1:4 (KJV). The Greek word koinōnos translated “partakers,” means “sharers, associates, or companions.”
In Christ we are enveloped in the spirit of sonship because we are made one with our Father. It is this kind of oneness that heals the fragmented self and empowers us to have real community with others – of the kind not based on formulaic social scientific legalisms but in the nature of trinitarian communion that has embraced us in Jesus. The oneness of the trinity becomes the oneness that is ours because we agree with Christ that He is our life.
PERICHORESIS
“Christians, though .. the privilege of sonship, become participants in the divine nature of God… Theosis is associated with another term, perichoresis, which is a Greek term describing the relationship between each Person of the Trinity where each is part of the other yet distinctly themselves*. Therefore, theosis is related to man’s perichoresis in which God resides within His human creation. As a result of theosis and the indwelling of God, man is made alive, full, and complete.”
CHRIST IN YOU
Human beings take on the qualities of God because God in God’s trinitarian fullness lives in us to impart Himself to us. We are not of course ‘God’s - but we are ‘sons’.
It is our oneness with God in this perichoretic sense that imparts God’s life and character to our person. God’s holiness is not something separate from God.* It is God. As a result it is God in us who makes us holy as God is holy. Thus, Christ is our life and our righteousness not only as Grace but as His being transfusing us.
SONS IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH
Myk Habets reflecting on Torrance’s thought, observes that, “It is only because God created man with the ability to experience theosis, i.e., God literally dwelling within us, that we become a reflection of Him. Another way to look at the idea of theosis is what Paul tells us in Romans 12:2: “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Theosis, that process of becoming like God, provides Torrance with a way of describing the reality of human participation in God through transformation into the image/likeness of the incarnate Son, Jesus Christ.
BEING HOLY AS GOD IS HOLY
“The more believers conform to this image the more they reflect the Triune relationship of love within their human communities, and the more they show it to cosmic constituencies as well. Believers in Christ are enabled to act as priests of creation, glorifying God through bringing harmony to creation as they mediate God’s presence. As they participate in the incarnate Son by the Spirit they become increasingly personalised and humanised, transformed into the likeness of the Son.” (2)
TRANSFORMATION
What has just been described looks much like sanctification because it is.
But not in a dualistic sense. We take on the divine nature because Grace lives in us and becomes us through the incarnation. This is Paul’s topic in Romans 8. We are forgiven and made righteous in the person of Jesus Christ. This is easier to understand if we see ourselves as engulfed in God and placed in perichoretic oneness with God rather than trying to see ourselves as conforming to a set of dualistic externalities listed in the law. Deviant Christian theologies tend to define holiness/godliness as things you do. But doing starts with Being. Christ’s theology of Himself and you is that you are joined to God in His Person’ and made one with God by which you receive His healing and His nature by the Spirit of Sonship – which is a state of being, not a definition or position. Joined to this Vine we express the fruit of genuine live and life.
ONENESS WITH CHRIST
Thus in this living way of being in Christ we become persona and sons/daughters rather than workers and adherents of morals and religious principles. Incarnated with God we become the expression of God because we are one with God. This is life in the Spirit and theosis.
* This negates the unsustainable god-theology of the law and a christ as chief law-monger.
* God is three. The trinity are real persons who live in oneness with each other, yet are distinctly themselves: Three persons one God according to the Nicaean Creed and the apostles teaching. God is relationship and Adam and Eve were included in this relationship as sons. God as drawn us into Godself in Jesus Christ.
As sons and daughters we inherit a similar facility in our close relationships. We become part of each other. This is why a break-up or a divorce can be so catastrophic..
(1) Martin M Davis. A Window into the Heart of God, Introduction.
(2) Myk Habets, Theosis in the Theology of Thomas Torrance
Theosis may be a new word to some but it is not a new concept. It has to do with spiritual transformation and is commonly known as ‘Godliness’. This is a Godliness that has an ontological connotation rather than a legalistic one. *
TRUE CHRIST
To see Jesus is to see God. This is why we must be His disciples rather than the disciples of sects and misguided beliefs. “Mis-perceptions about God may arise from early life experiences, especially interactions with parents and significant others …Whether one comes from a family .. rigid religiosity, or other forms of a parental dysfunction, the effects upon family members are similar. Among the effects of parental dysfunction are twisted and distorted perceptions of God.” (1) A misguided Christian community is likewise dysfunctional to the extent that a mindset so warped may perceive the real Gospel as heresy.
It’s not uncommon to live in a bubble of misguided beliefs. The parable of Trumpism is that people can manufacture their own reality because they find a perverse comfort in it. Lies can be embraced and fought for in politics and in the Church.
If the adventure of adult life for some is undoing the harm to the self experienced in our childhood, the adventure of knowing Christ and His Real Gospel as it is, is similar. Genuine growth in Christ by which we mean advancing from glory to glory from - workers to sons - comes as we leave behind the erroneous ideas in which we were socialised. Godliness is ours by our being joined to God. Not by us but joined by the Christ of God.
THEOSIS
Only God has the condition of deity in and of Himself. No human can ever attain divinity. There is only one God and we are not Him. However, theosis is the state of being ‘God-infused’, both in character and in person. Peter describes Christians as being “partakers of the divine nature” in 2 Peter 1:4 (KJV). The Greek word koinōnos translated “partakers,” means “sharers, associates, or companions.”
In Christ we are enveloped in the spirit of sonship because we are made one with our Father. It is this kind of oneness that heals the fragmented self and empowers us to have real community with others – of the kind not based on formulaic social scientific legalisms but in the nature of trinitarian communion that has embraced us in Jesus. The oneness of the trinity becomes the oneness that is ours because we agree with Christ that He is our life.
PERICHORESIS
“Christians, though .. the privilege of sonship, become participants in the divine nature of God… Theosis is associated with another term, perichoresis, which is a Greek term describing the relationship between each Person of the Trinity where each is part of the other yet distinctly themselves*. Therefore, theosis is related to man’s perichoresis in which God resides within His human creation. As a result of theosis and the indwelling of God, man is made alive, full, and complete.”
CHRIST IN YOU
Human beings take on the qualities of God because God in God’s trinitarian fullness lives in us to impart Himself to us. We are not of course ‘God’s - but we are ‘sons’.
It is our oneness with God in this perichoretic sense that imparts God’s life and character to our person. God’s holiness is not something separate from God.* It is God. As a result it is God in us who makes us holy as God is holy. Thus, Christ is our life and our righteousness not only as Grace but as His being transfusing us.
SONS IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH
Myk Habets reflecting on Torrance’s thought, observes that, “It is only because God created man with the ability to experience theosis, i.e., God literally dwelling within us, that we become a reflection of Him. Another way to look at the idea of theosis is what Paul tells us in Romans 12:2: “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Theosis, that process of becoming like God, provides Torrance with a way of describing the reality of human participation in God through transformation into the image/likeness of the incarnate Son, Jesus Christ.
BEING HOLY AS GOD IS HOLY
“The more believers conform to this image the more they reflect the Triune relationship of love within their human communities, and the more they show it to cosmic constituencies as well. Believers in Christ are enabled to act as priests of creation, glorifying God through bringing harmony to creation as they mediate God’s presence. As they participate in the incarnate Son by the Spirit they become increasingly personalised and humanised, transformed into the likeness of the Son.” (2)
TRANSFORMATION
What has just been described looks much like sanctification because it is.
But not in a dualistic sense. We take on the divine nature because Grace lives in us and becomes us through the incarnation. This is Paul’s topic in Romans 8. We are forgiven and made righteous in the person of Jesus Christ. This is easier to understand if we see ourselves as engulfed in God and placed in perichoretic oneness with God rather than trying to see ourselves as conforming to a set of dualistic externalities listed in the law. Deviant Christian theologies tend to define holiness/godliness as things you do. But doing starts with Being. Christ’s theology of Himself and you is that you are joined to God in His Person’ and made one with God by which you receive His healing and His nature by the Spirit of Sonship – which is a state of being, not a definition or position. Joined to this Vine we express the fruit of genuine live and life.
ONENESS WITH CHRIST
Thus in this living way of being in Christ we become persona and sons/daughters rather than workers and adherents of morals and religious principles. Incarnated with God we become the expression of God because we are one with God. This is life in the Spirit and theosis.
* This negates the unsustainable god-theology of the law and a christ as chief law-monger.
* God is three. The trinity are real persons who live in oneness with each other, yet are distinctly themselves: Three persons one God according to the Nicaean Creed and the apostles teaching. God is relationship and Adam and Eve were included in this relationship as sons. God as drawn us into Godself in Jesus Christ.
As sons and daughters we inherit a similar facility in our close relationships. We become part of each other. This is why a break-up or a divorce can be so catastrophic..
(1) Martin M Davis. A Window into the Heart of God, Introduction.
(2) Myk Habets, Theosis in the Theology of Thomas Torrance
